A little bit about the blog…

This is a space where I write about issues relating to faith, spirituality, and culture. I often focus on the roles of women in the church and world, because of my experiences as a pastor.

Growing up I was taught that women were the equals of men, and could do whatever God called them to, including pastoring. I was aware that some Christians did not ordain women, but I believed they were hold-overs from days of yore, and would catch up eventually. I experienced a very clear call to ministry, and decided to attend seminary. When I was in seminary working on my MDiv (Master of Divinity) I discovered that the theology of male headship was much more pervasive than I had realized. I encountered students who genuinely thought I should not be there, or that I needed to limit the scope of what I planned to do in ministry to something relating to women or children. These were my classmates and colleagues (even if they didn’t view me that way), and I respected their love for Jesus and Scripture. In my desire to be intellectually honest and doctrinally sound, I didn’t want to go against the Word of God, so I spent a year studying the issue.

I was lucky enough during this time to study with Catherine Clark Kroeger, who has since gone on to be with Jesus, and I will forever be grateful for her strong and steady teaching on the issue of women in ministry. The more I dug into the issue and studied it, the less convincing the arguments for male headship became, and the more certain I felt about a theology of gender equality in both value and roles.

I never intended to become an advocate for women in ministry, or to write about it, but I found myself continually running into women and men with questions, concerns, and struggles around the issue. And I discovered how many complex ways gender bias, sexism, and general bad theology in the church were affecting my own experiences in ministry.